Rapid development of the National Information Infrastructure (NII) in Taiwan has led analysts to suggest the government should use the Internet as a major communication tool.
Prior to a review of the Gov-ernment Information Publication Act (GIPA) by the legislature's technology and information committee, a number of public hearings have allowed government agencies, industry leaders and academics to offer their recommendations.
Four drafts have already been presented to the committee, but the civil advisory board under the NII steering committee (民間諮詢委員會), completed another draft review last week. The civil advisory board is comprised of 30 members from industry and higher education.
Previous debates over the proposed law have concentrated on the extent to which government information is to be made available to the public.
Although the NII civil advisory group did discuss this issue, equally significant was their proposal that all government agencies make their records available by computer telecommunication (Internet) or other electronic means.
A cabinet draft has already proposed the Internet as one of five options the government can use to disseminate information publicly.
Taking this proposal a further step forward, the board has suggested computer communication should be mandated by law, whereas access to published records in a government register, or provision of access to recording and copying should be optional.
Hsieh Chih-hsiang (
"Information can be most accessible when it is available on the Internet. Other means could only make information available for a small portion of the population. But, through the Internet information would be accessible to millions of people in a very convenient way," Hsieh said.
The idea of making government information available on the Internet has emerged at a time when Taiwan's NII has been developing at an explosive rate.
Among these developments, the NII steering committee claimed in March the population of Internet users in Taiwan now exceeds three million and continues to grow rapidly.
Electronic government capability is expected to more fully establish itself when all government agencies have completed their web sites.
However, there have been complaints that there is little content or readily available information on the government web pages.
Committee members said they thought much more information could be added to the web pages and government agency records.
Emily Chang (
"It could encourage use of government Web sites, which are now of little substance. Electronic access is a far more convenient way for the public to obtain government information," Chang said.
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